Discusses the use of Samuel Butler's utopian novel, "Erewhon," in a social psychology class to demonstrate the universality of social psychological insights and to provide a literary dimension to the course. Reports that student evaluations indicated that "Erewhon" was successful in increasing the liberal arts value of the…

Presents a classroom exercise that can help students focus on the difficulties in defining normal sexual behavior. Provides a 30-item questionnaire on which students indicate whether or not a variety of behaviors are normal. States that students then meet in groups and construct a definition of "normal" sexual behavior. (DB)

Discusses a research design course in which undergraduates were taught to program microcomputers for the control of experimental tasks. Describes the teaching approach for the three-hour course unit, along with the experimental tasks that were performed. Reports that students ranked the programing of experimental tasks as important as other…

Discusses a microcomputer program that was created to simulate the behavior of a computerized "animal" so that students could practice the shaping of behavior. Describes mathematical algorithms that allowed the "animal" to show gradual improvements in directional movements after appropriate shaping. Reports that students were…

Reports on a study of 110 students in advanced undergraduate psychology courses to assess their retrospective impressions about their introductory psychology course, current course selections and performance, and future academic plans. Finds that students who had participated in a science fair gave significantly higher ratings. (CFR)

Contends that, although computers are used frequently in undergraduate experimental design and statistics courses, they also can be used in courses with different instructional objectives. Describes a course designed to teach the roles of professional psychologists through the use of computers. (CFR)

Describes a cooperative writing project involving a college-level psychology class and a ninth-grade English class. Discusses different concepts of psychology held by the two student groups. Concludes with suggestions for improving writing skills and helping students become more authoritative writers. (CFR)

Reports on a cross-sectional evaluation of content achievement among 71 college-level psychology majors. Finds introductory students scored higher in social psychology but experimental psychology scores improved among advanced students. Also finds psychology students scored better than management majors on a standardized reasoning test. (CFR)

Discusses increased numbers of undergraduate psychology majors and strategies to reduce them. Proposes a prediction model based on the grade point average of graduating psychology students. Concludes that student performance in introductory psychology courses may provide one predictive measure of later achievement. (CFR)

Reports on a collaborative learning project in which college-level counseling students designed and presented workshops on therapeutic intervention. Finds workshops stimulated more personal involvement with the topic and individual written papers ensured that all shared the workload. Concludes that workshops prepare students for collaborative…

While most college and university professors spend more time teaching than doing research, most graduate programs emphasize research rather than preparation for teaching. Describes a doctoral program in psychology that prepares students to be both researchers and teachers. (CFR)

Contends that infusing black psychology into an introductory psychology course can help students learn about the impact of social, economic, and cultural factors on psychological development. Provides a rationale, lecture outline, and resource list to assist teachers in incorporating black psychology in their courses. Reports that African-American…

Describes an instructional activity in which students are given false data in a research methods class. Finds that all students accepted the data but that seniors were more skeptical than sophomores or juniors. Determines that students agree that the approach helped them learn about the costs and benefits of deception in research. (CFR)

Describes a learning theory course using methods recommended in the book, "Women's Ways of Knowing." Outlines course activities and assignments. Maintains that students gave the course high ratings on evaluations. (CFR)

Describes a classroom procedure that induces cognitive dissonance in students by pointing out inconsistencies between their behavior and attitudes. Argues that this technique makes teaching about cognitive dissonance easier. Reports that students positively evaluated the effectiveness of the activity. (CFR)